It was not until late 1946 that the public company 'Park Royal Vehicles Ltd' was formed. Since 1930, and therefore throughout the war years, the company was a private concern known as 'Park Royal Coachworks Ltd'. During the second world war Park Royal Coachworks concentrated on military vehicles, an example of which can be found on the Deacon page. However, very significantly, a large aircraft factory was also built at Park Royal specifically to manufacture major parts of the famous Halifax bomber.
The Handley Page company was at the helm of the design and manufacture of the Halifax bomber and David Lang, who was apprenticed there, has written an interesting article on its production and has kindly allowed me to include it on this website. Here then is the story of another lesser known aspect of Park Royal.
Click here for David's article entitled "Halifax Bomber Production at Park Royal Coachworks"
Adrian Fuller has kindly supplied these two photos of what is believed to be the luncheon held at the Dorchester Hotel in London on 20 March 1945, as mentioned in the article above, that marked the end of wartime production of the Halifax. His grandfather Cyril Fuller is pictured in the front centre of the group photo (with his chair turned towards us) and far right on the casual picture.
Adrian
writes: I do not know much of what he did during the war but it is believed
that my grandfather, Cyril Fuller, took the photographs of the wing
production of the Halifax shown in the article. My grandmother Phyllis is the lady facing the camera on the wing photo.
I believe that, at some stage, he was a foreman at Park Royal (they lived at
Northolt).
Cyril was apprenticed at the GWR in Norfolk, where he learned woodworking. He then went on to Shorts of Belfast working on timber framed aircraft and apparently spent time in Poland before the war. A long time friend of his was RAF Wing Commander, Stanley Timmis. He was also associated with Harry Endersby, Sir William Black and a 'Curly Guyert'.
Do you recognise anyone in these photos? Please let me know! (Ed.)
This is the Aircraft Factory's
Inspection Department staff - November 1944 (from my father Alf Hill's
collection). Did you know any of these
people? Can you shed more light on the Aircraft
Factory?
The PRC Aircraft Factory viewed
from the north across the Grand Union Canal.